Overnight Regulation: House bill to roll back labor board rules advances | New Treasury sanctions against North Korea | Watchdog finds fraud in FCC internet program
Welcome to Overnight Regulation, your daily rundown of news from the federal agencies, Capitol Hill, the courts and beyond. It’s Thursday night and July 4th recess is in the air. Can you feel it? I can.
THE BIG STORY
A Republican bill to roll back labor relations board rules advanced in the House in a party-line committee vote.
More specifically: The proposal rolls back the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) controversial so-called “ambush election” rule and scrapped its 2011 ruling that allowed unions to organize employees in so-called micro-unions.
{mosads}The bill introduced by Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) prohibits a union election from being held less than 35 days after the petition for representation is filed and gives employers 14 days to object to employees unionizing.
The current rule: Employees are allowed to take a vote on union representation as soon as 11 days after a petition for representation is filed, with employers having seven days to bring objections to the NLRB. This took effect in April 2015.
The Republican argument: “Eleven days isn’t enough time for workers to hear from both sides of the debate and make a personal decision that impacts their jobs, their paychecks and their future,” Walberg said.
The Democratic argument: “By slowing down the time it takes for a union to hold an election, it will be much more difficult for any union to win an election or even form a union in the first place,” said Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.), who proposed an amendment — which ultimately failed — to eliminate the bill’s mandatory 35-day waiting period.
Lydia Wheeler has the breakdown.
REG ROUNDUP
Finance: The Treasury Department announced new sanctions aimed at North Korea.
On Thursday, the department targeted four Chinese entities and nationals for their ties to the government of North Korea, banning them from the U.S. financial system.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was crystal clear on the reasoning behind the decision: “We continue to work with China,” he added. “This is about North Korea and how serious we are taking this.”
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Chinese citizens Sun Wei and Li Hong Ri, along with Dalian Global Unity Shipping Co. and Bank of Dandong, for offering financial services and assistance to North Korea.
Mnuchin said that while the four targeted entities are Chinese, the action is not intended to be a shot at China.
“We are in no way targeting China with these actions,” Mnuchin said during a White House briefing. “We will follow the money and we will cut off the money.
Tech: Watchdog alert.
A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released Thursday details significant fraud and abuse in the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Lifeline program, which is designed to subsidize broadband and phone services for low-income households.
The GAO report, requested four years ago by Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), detailed numerous instances of misuse and gaps in its oversight.
For example: $1.2 million in program subsidies went to fake or deceased individuals, investigators found.
“A complete lack of oversight is causing this program to fail the American taxpayer — everything that could go wrong is going wrong,” McCaskill said. “We’re currently letting phone companies cash a government check every month with little more than the honor system to hold them accountable, and that simply can’t continue.”
Tech: President Trump will nominate Brendan Carr, currently serving as general counsel at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), to be the third Republican commissioner at the agency, a White House spokesman told The Hill.
Before being tapped as the FCC’s acting general counsel earlier this year, Carr was a top adviser to Chairman Ajit Pai when he was a commissioner in the GOP minority.
Carr will likely be a close ally to Pai as the chairman pushes his proposal to kill the FCC’s Obama-era net neutrality rules.
Read Harper Neidig’s piece here.
Environment: The Environmental Protection Agency is not required to write a report on how its regulations have affected coal industry jobs, a federal appeals court ruled — overturning a lower court’s decision.
The Richmond, Va.-based Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ruled that the legal provision at issue does not allow for lawsuits to force the EPA to conduct coal job studies.
A West Virginia federal judge ruled last year that the EPA has to write a report on how Clean Air Act regulations impact coal-industry jobs. Coal mining company Murray Energy Corp. had sued to force the study, citing a Clean Air Act provision requiring ongoing job evaluations.
But the appeals court said that the section of the Clean Air Act allowing for lawsuits does not cover the coal jobs requirement.
The ruling came two days before the deadline the lower court gave the EPA to submit its first report on coal job losses and a plan for a more extensive one. The agency said it had devoted more than 100 staffers to the task and spent millions of dollars defending the case and working on the report.
More environment: German Chancellor Angela Merkel is ready to confront Trump over his decision to exit the Paris climate deal.
She says next week’s global summit in Hamburg will focus on pressing on with the Paris climate accord despite President Trump’s move to pull the U.S. out of the deal.
Merkel on Thursday told Germany’s Parliament she is prepared to have difficult talks with Trump at the G-20 summit about the Paris deal and climate change, The Washington Post reported.
“Since the U.S. announced that it would exit the Paris agreement, we cannot expect any easy talks in Hamburg,” Merkel said. “The dissent is obvious, and it would be dishonest to cover it up.”
Read Robin Eberhardt’s story here.
Energy: Senate Democrats recommended a senior Democratic Senate aide to serve on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
A day later, he was nominated — a course of action that isn’t unusual.
FERC can have no more than three commissioners of the same political party. It has long been the tradition that the Senate caucus for the party that does not hold the White House recommends nominations to the president, and the president usually complies.
Richard Glick is general counsel for Democrats on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, led by ranking member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.). He would serve through 2022, the White House announced late Wednesday, replacing Colette Honorable, who is leaving the post Friday.
More Energy and more from Timothy: “American Energy Dominance.” That’s President Trump’s vow.
Trump is formally seeking a review of energy policies to help the nuclear power industry prosper.
Trump announced the review during a speech at the Energy Department’s headquarters, which came as part of the administration’s Energy Week celebration.
“The golden era of American energy is now underway. And I’ll go a step further: the golden era of America is now underway, believe me,” Trump told the fossil fuel industry executives, workers, lawmakers and others assembled.
“Energy dominance” has been the theme of the Energy Week events. To the administration, it means boosting production of domestic fossil fuels and other energy so that the United States can export them and use them for geopolitical purposes, like reducing the influence of other major energy superpowers.
ICYMI FROM THE HILL
Senators introduce new bipartisan energy bill
Uber discussed giving drivers equity in SEC meetings
Senate panel approves aviation bill without Trump’s spinoff plan
FCC chairman to speak at Koch-backed event
Coal, nuclear vie for supremacy in key Energy Department study
IN THE NEWS
Giant Fund Industry Charges Too Much, British Regulator Says (The Wall Street Journal)
Google rivals cheer EU antitrust ruling – but will it help? (The Wall Street Journal)
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